Can a Bot Save Your Butt?

Robots that can cook us dinner and bring us beer? That's still a fantasy. The reality? Robots are operating on our prostates, and it's working out well. Robotic precision instruments in the operating room—often aided by computers—give surgeons microscopic 3-D views of tricky areas. This helps spare critical nerves during, for example, a prostatectomy. In fact, a new study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that only 32 percent of men who had laparoscopic prostatectomies recovered their erectile function 12 months after the surgery, compared with 77 percent whose surgeons used the robotic procedure. Those guys are happy to fetch their own beers.

Bots remain under the surgeon's control, stresses David Samadi, M.D., chief of robotics and minimally invasive surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. So, he says, "it's the experience of the surgeon, not the robot, that determines the outcome."

The popularity is growing: Use of the da Vinci, a common robotic surgery system, increased 35 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to the Intuitive Surgical Annual Report. Robotic surgery has proved especially effective for prostatectomies (Dr. Samadi says men typically spend one night in the hospital and are back at work within 2 weeks), and research suggests that it's a smart strategy for other procedures as well.

More Body Parts Robots Can Fix

HEART Robotic surgery is effective for coronary artery bypass procedures and a type of heart surgery called mitral valve repair, University of Maryland researchers report.

KIDNEYS A review in the journal Current Opinion in Urology found that robotic surgery may be an effective alternative to laparoscopic methods for kidney-cancer surgeries.

THYROID Robotic surgery may be the most cosmetically satisfying approach for removing part or all of the thyroid gland, a new Korean study reports.

LARYNX Bots are effective at operating on tumors in a hard-to-reach area of the upper larynx called the supraglottis, Mayo Clinic researchers recently reported.

Pre-Op Checklist

What to ask a surgeon when considering robotic surgery

WILL I HAVE YOUR FULL ATTENTION?Some surgeons run two or more rooms at the same time, says David Samadi, M.D. Ask if your doctor will be juggling your surgery with other procedures.

HOW CAN I TALK TO SOMEONE WHO HAS HAD THIS OPERATION? Satisfied patients will often offer advice to other patients, says Eric Lehr, M.D., Ph.D., codirector of minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.

IS THERE AN ON-SITE PATHOLOGIST? You want a surgical center where tumors can be examined immediately after they're removed, says Kerry Olsen, M.D., chief of head and neck surgery at the Mayo Clinic.

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